Monday, 25 April 2011

Born of Frustration

Still no babies. We're on day 370 for two of the girls and we even resorted to lifting their tails this evening to see if there was any softening but nobody is showing any signs of being near to giving birth, no humming to their cria, which is one of the signs we have come to expect in the last few days. They aren't even showing any signs of an udder. They are in full fleece and we have had no rain for a couple of weeks now, we are enjoying the weather but we think the poor alpacas are suffering a bit and we can't put the paddling pool out for them in case they give birth over it and drown the cria. We have been pouring water on the ground so that they can sit on a cool area but it isn't as much fun for them as splashing themselves. We are supposed to have a few drops of rain tonight but it hasn't arrived yet and the heatwave is due to carry on for the next few days.

Biffy and Timothy have started their halter training and Biffy took to it straight away, Timothy decided that he he was leading. It looked as though he was training Si and taking him for a walk. These two boys have been the easiest to train so far or it may just be that we are more experienced at doing it now.

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Jemima (Mimi) is still confined with Cherrybomb to a small area to try to get some of their weight off, they have taken to sticking their heads through the fencing and eating the grass as far as they can reach.

Ashdale Delilah is loving being in her new paddock with fresh lush grass, along with the other cria from last year. We are putting her up for sale, she has an excellent pedigree as her dam is Hemiccoyo Cricket of Cambridge and she was sired by EP Cambridge Samson. Her sire and brother are both Supreme Champions.